See, the course throng'd with gazers, the sports are
begun, The confusion but hear ---Ill bet you, sir,—Done, doneTen
thousand strange murmurs resound far and near,Lords, hawkers, and
jockeys assail the tired earWhile with neck like a rainbow, erecting his
crest,Pamper'd, prancing, and pleas'd, his head touching his breast,
Scarcely snuffing the air, he's so proud and elate,The high.mettled
racer first starts for the plate. Charles Dibdin.HORSE-RACING is a sport
of high antiquity.

Great was its repute among the ancient Greeks and
Romans. When all that was glorious in the arts of war and peace dignified
the Grecian States, the most exciting and admired features of the Olympic
Games were the horse-races and chariot-races ; and famous monarchs
themselves did not disdain to lay aside their pomp, and become competitors
in those contests. King Hiero of Syracuse, the munificent patron of
Ęseltylus and Pindar and other poets, rode his own horse, Phrenicus, and won
the Olympic crown; and King Philip of Macedon entered the course mounted on
the brother to Buecphalus. Pindar composed his first Olympic ode in
celebration of Hicro's triumph. Sophocles, in his tragedy of Electra, has
left a graphic picture of the chariot-races, which l5indar also commemorates
in glowing verse; and Ovid addresses one of his Love Elegies 'to his
Mistress at the Horse Race:-

"Not in the Circus do I sit to viewThe running
horses, but to gaze on you Near you I choose an advantageous place,
And whilst your eyes are fix'd upon the race, Mine are on you."

Leaving the Olympic and the Roman races, and descending
the stream of time, we find that in mediaval England both Saxon and Norman
amused themselves with the running of fleet steeds. Races were held in
Smithfield as early as the reign of Henry II. The seasons for the sport were
usually Easter and Whitsuntide, which, however, were latterly changed from
religious motives. The prizes were silver bells. Several running- horses
were purchased for Edward III., at the price of 20 marks, or £13 6s. 3d.
each, and others at 25 marks. Down to the seventeenth century, horse-racing
in England, as Strutt informs us, "was considered as a liberal pastime,
practised for pleasure rather than profit, without the least idea of
reducing it to a system of gambling"; but it soon afterwards degenerated,
for Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, speaking of the recreations of
country-folks, and characterizing horse-races as amongst "the disports of
greater men, and good in themselves," satirically adds, "though many
gentlemen by that means gallop quite out of their fortunes." The modern
system of horse-racing may be said to date from the reign of James I. Public
race meetings were then first instituted; and the prizes were still
bells—gold and silver. It was long said that in a moment of extravagance,
when his purse was better lined than ordinary, the British Solomon, who was
a most ungainly rider, threw away £500 sterling money for an Arabian, which
proved a failure, being soundly beaten by English horses, but we find from
Rice's History of the British Tuif that the price was only £154 sterling.
The short-lived Prince Henry was a zealous supporter of racing; and the
unfortunate King Charles, before he found more serious matters to absorb his
attention, was fond of the sport,—but in his time some English writers were
of opinion that stout horses '.'ere decreasing in the kingdom, owing "to the
strong addiction of the country to hunters and running horses which were
bred only for speed." Curious to relate, the Protector, Oliver Cromwell,
Puritan as he was, kept at least a couple of racers, the White Turk and the
Coffin Mare!—though, when in dread of Royalist conspiracy, he dared "suffer
no assemblies, not so much as horse-races," as is charged against him in
Colonel Titus' extraordinary tract, Killing no Murder, which is said to have
hastened the "tyrant's death. The Restoration revived all "the old familiar"
English sports and pastimes, against which the sour spirits of the
Commonwealth misunderstanding national character, habits, predilections, had
zealously set their faces, backed by the pains and penalties of law. The
Merry Monarch gave the turf every encouragement established meetings at
Datchct Mead, and also at Newmarket; entered horses in his own royal name ;
and bought mares from Barbary and other countries for the improvement of the
English breed. Race prizes now rose in value to a hundred guineas each, and
it was the custom to engrave the names and pedigree of the winning horses
upon these trophies of victory. William of Orange and Mary his Queen
patronised the turf liberally, adding several plates to those which Royalty
had usually bestowed. More new plates were given by Queen Anne, whose
husband, Prince George of Denmark, owned a number of capital racers. Silver
plates as prizes were abolished by George I., who gave instead a hundred
guineas, to be paid in specie. Let us notice, however, that in 1725, a
diverting race was advertised to be run at Ripon, in Yorkshire, namely—"The
Lady's Plate of L15 value, by any horse that was no more than five years old
the last grass. Women to be the riders : each to pay one guinea entrance:
three heats, and twice round the common for a heat."

Probably the Scots practised the amusement of competing
with fleet horses at as early a period as their neighbours south of the
Tweed, though, in process of time, the English became the chief promoters of
the sport. Or, it might be conjectured that as Horse-racing was common among
the Normans and Saxons, the influx of both into Scotland, after the
Conquest, may have introduced this pastime to the northern people. But
without wandering in the antiquity of that era, we shall farther descend to
the sixteenth century, when public horse-racing took place statedly at
several towns in Scotland. Respecting the conditions of the sport we have no
information, nor do we know anything about the breed and training of the
horses. All that we are able to do is to gather together a variety of
scattered notices showing that horse-racing existed in Scotland at the
period mentioned.

The earliest notices of the sport occur in 1504, during
the reign of James W. On 15th April that year, the Lord High Treasurer of
Scotland enters in his Accounts a payment "to Thomas Boswell, he laid down
in Leith to the wife of the King's Innis, and to the boy that ran the King's
horse, 18s.:" and on 2d May following there is a payment of 28s. "to Dande
Doule whilk he wan frae the King on Horse Racing." Our next authority is Sir
David Lindsay of the Mount, Lord Lyon King at Arms under James V. In Sir
David's poem, the Complaint, where he enumerates the different games and
pastimes which the King enjoyed in his boyhood, horse-races are included :-

Some gart him raiffell at the racket, Some harled
him to the hurly-hacketAnd some to show their courtly corsis (persons)
Wad ride to Leith, and rin their horses, And wichetly wallop over
the sands Yea neither spared spurs nor wands Casting galmounds, with
bends and becks, For wantonness, some brak their necks.

The sands of Leith continued to be used as a Race-
ground till the year 1816, when the annual meeting was transferred to
Musselburgh. The neighbouring town of Haddington had a Horse-race in 1552,
the prize being a silver bell. Under date of 10th May, the records of the
burgh contain an entry to this effect: The whilk clay, John Forrois, burgess
of Haddington, came cautioner that ane worthy and mighty Lord, George Lord
Scytoun, shall bring the Silver Bell that his horse von upon the 10th day of
May, the year of God!" Ve Fifty twa years, to the said burgh of Haddington
upon the third day of November the same year of God, and present the same to
the Provost and Bailies of the said burgh of Haddington, with an
augmentation like as the said Lord pleases to augment for his honour, and
the same Bell to be run for the said day, sa the winner thereof may have the
same again; and for observing of thir vemss the said John Forrois has acted
(bound) himself in the common burgh of Haddington, the said X day of May,
the year of God above specified." From this it would seem that the race for
the bell was held half-yearly.

Towards the end of 1575, the Regent Morton visited the
Border for the purpose of holding Courts of Justice and while he was at
Dumfries, "there entered many gentlemen of England," says the contemporary
author of the Historie and Life of King James the Sext, "for to behold the
Regent's Court, where there was great pro- vocation made for riding of
horses; and by fortune, my Lord Hamilton had there a horse so well bridled,
and so speedy, that although lie was of a meaner stature from other horses
that essayed their speed, he overcame them all a great way upon Solway
sands, whereby lie obtained great praise both of England and Scotland that
time."

It is said that the defeat of the Spanish Armada, in
1588, had some influence in promoting the taste for Horse-racing in
Scotland, from the fact that one or two of the ships being wrecked on the
vest coast, a number of fine Spanish horses got ashore, and prove remarkable
for their swiftness. But the tradition seems to rest on tangible foundation.

An old annual festival held at the town of Peebles, on
Be/lane, or the second of May, was distinguished by horse- races ; but such
gatherings on the Border was frequently attended with broils and bloodshed.
In 16oS, therefore, the Peebles race was prohibited, as a nuisance, by the
Scottish Government. The Lords of Secret Council issued all on 28th April,
to the effect that being "informed that there is ane Horse-race appointed to
be at Peebles the-day of May next to come, whereunto great numbers of people
of all qualities and ranks, intends to repair, betwixt whom there being
quarrels, private grudges, and miscontentment, it is to be feared that at
their meeting upon fields, some troubles and inconvenients shall fall out
amnangs them, to the break of His Majesty's peace and disquieting of the
country, without (unless) remeed be provided; therefore the Lords of Secret
Council has discharged, and by the tenor hereof discharges, the said
Horse-race, and ordains that the same shall be nowise holden nor kept this
year for which purpose ordains letters to be direct, to command, charge, and
inhibit all and sundry His Majesty's lieges and subjects by open
proclamation at the Market-cross of Peebles and other places needful, that
none of them presume nor take upon them to convene and assemble themselves
to the said race this present year, but to suffer that meeting and action to
depart and cease, as they and ilk ane of them will answer upon the contrary
at their highest peril." We shall return to Peebles at a later stage.

The royal burgh of Stirling had its annual Horse-race in
the end of the sixteenth century, if not earlier—an entry in the Town
Council books, of date 18th April, 1598, being to the following effect: "Ane
bell of fine silver, weighing twa ounce and ane half, to be provided eight
days before Pasch (Easter), and delivered to the Magistrates on Pasch
Tuesday," as the prize for a Horse- race."

Paisley, too, bestirred itself in patronage of the Turf.
The Council minutes of April, mGoS, contains an order that a silver bell be
made of four ounce weight, with all diligence, fora Horse-race yearly to be
appointed within this burgh, and the bounds and day for running thereof to
be set down by my Lord Abercorn, Lord Paisley, and Kilpatrick." At Paisley,
in May, 1620, there were two prizes given for the principal race: 1st, the
silver bell, "with the Burgess arms thereupon, for that year, together with
the rest of the gold that shall be given in with the said bell;" and 2nd, a
double angel; while another prize for "an after-shot race," was "a furnished
saddle." The Paisley bell is still preserved, and is considered as old as
that of Lanark. Generally the prize-bells of the time weighed about 4oz.,
and remained as the property of the towns which offered them—the winners
being allowed to retain them for a year respectively.Racing appears to
have been in great vogue at Cupar Fife and Dunfermline about the beginning
of the seventeenth century. A curious Act of Caution, dated 4th April, 1610,
concerning the Races at the latter town, is copied in the burgh books, and
quoted in Seton's Memoir of Alexander Seton, Earl of Dunfermline :—

Coutiary for production of the Race Bell upon the fourth
day of April, 1611.

At Dunfermline 19 day of April, ano 1610, in presence of
Julia Anderson and James Mochrie, Bailies of the burgh.

The whilk day, in presence of the said Bullies,
compeared personally Mr. James Douglas, the Schoolmaster, burgess of the
said burgh, and upon his awin proper confession, acted him, his heirs,
executors, and assigns, as cautioner and surety for David Boswell, brother
german to Sir John Boswell, of Balmuto, knight That the said David, or
others in his name, shall exhibit and produce, before the Provost and
Ballies of the said burgh, in the Tolbooth thereof, upon the fourth day of
April, in the year of God sixteen hundred and eleven years next to come, at
ten hours before noon, the silver Race bell double overgilt, his Majesty's
name and arms graven thereupon, weighing pertaining to sac noble lord,
Alexander Earl of Dunfermline, Lord Fyvie and Urquhart, high Chancellor of
Scotland, Bailie heritable principal of she regality of Dunfermline,
delivered this day to the said David, in custody and keeping, by command and
ordinate of the said noble Earl, by reason of the said David's black- horse
winning the custody and keeping thereof by ruining frae Conscience Brig to
the Brig of Urquhat in company with other twa horses, viz., ane dapple grey
horse belonging to Sir William Monteth of Kcrs, knight, and the other sue
brown horse belonging to Lewis Montesh, his brother german, and won frae
them the race. And that the said David Doswell shall deliver and produce the
said bell in the like and also good state as he now receives the same, under
the pains of five hundred merks money Scots, to be paid by the said
Cautioner to the sai(l noble Earl in case of failure, and the said David
Doswell compearing personally, demitting his awin jurisdiction, and duly
submitting him in this case to the jurisdiction of the Provost and Dailies
of the said burgh, of his awin confession, acted him to free and relieve the
said Mr. James Douglas, his Cautioner, of this present Cautioisry between
him and the said Dailies, and of other penalties. The said Bullies
interponed their authority thereto, and ordains execution of poinding and
warding to pass hereupon in case of failure of production of the bell at the
day and in manner above specified. 4th April, 1611.

This act delete be reason David Boswell produced the
horse race bell, inducia this day.

John Anderson, Bailie

In 1621, the Lords Morton, Boyd, and Abercorn, entered
into an Indenture at Hamilton regarding a proposed race : the agreement
providing that the course was to be "three mett miles of Cupar race in
Fife," the stakes ten double angels for each horse, the winner receiving the
whole; and each rider "eight Scots stane weight."

But by this time betting on races seems to have risen to
such a height that the Pariiatnent of Scotland, in August, 1621, passed an
Act declaring that all money won at cards and dice, or in wagers at
horse-races, above 100 inerks Scots, should belong to the poor of the parish
in winch it was won :-

If it shall happen any man to inn any sums of money at
Carding or Dicing, attour (above) the sum of an hundred merks, within the
space of twenty-four hours; or to gain at wagers upon horse races, any sum
attour the said sum of an hundred merks; the surplus shall be consigned,
within twesty-four hours thereafter, in the hands of the Treasurer of the
Kick, if it he in Edinburgh, or in the hands 'of such of the Kirk-Session,
in country parochines, as collects and distributes money for the poor at the
same, to be employed always upon the poor of the parish where such winning
shall happen to fall out. And to the effect that either excess in play may
be thus restrained, or, at the least, excessive winning may be employed as
said is, our Sovoreign Lord, by Act of his supreme Court of Parliament,
gives full power and commission to the Bailies and Magistrates of Burghs,
the Sheriffs and Justices of Peace in the country, to pursue and convene all
such persons, for all winning at Cards, Dice, and horse-races, which shall
happen to be made by any person, by and attour (over and above) the said
suist of an hundred merits money aforesaid: and in case the Magistrate
informed thereof refuse to pursue for the same, the party informer shall
have action against the said Magistrate for double the like sun,, the one
half whereof to be given to the poor, and the oilier half to the party
informer.

We shall come to an instance in which this statute was
made operative at the distance of a century and a half after its enactment.

The first notice of Horse-races at Perth, where the
North and South Inches afforded the requisite facilities for the sport,
occurs in the Town Council records for 1613. That year, a prize, consisting
of a silver bell, presented by Ninian Graham, laird of Garvock, in name of
John Graham, laird of Bogside, was run for and won. The course was then, and
for a considerable while afterwards, on the South Inch. On the 6th of May,
161 5, the Council ordered six stakes to be placed there "for the riding of
the horse-race in time coming." Not long after this period, a change in
race-prizes began to take place gradually over the country—cups, bowls, or
other pieces of plate, being substituted for the bells. Under date of 14th
May, 1625, the Town Council of Glasgow "ordains the Horse Race to be
proclaimed to the 25th day of May instant, and the Cup to be made." On 14th
February, 1631, the Perth Town Council resolved to convert three silver
bells, weighing in all eleven ounces, into a prize Cup, to be run for after
Palm Sunday. Next month, 21st March, the minutes speak of the new prize cup,
weighing S oz., obtained in lieu of the three silver bells, as these had
been found "unsuitable." The race was held on the day after Palm Sunday
posts were erected on the South Inch and the cup was won by Thomas Tyrie of
Drumkilbo, with his horse called Kildair.

The silver race-bell which the burgh of Lanark possessed
at the period under notice is still extant, and has been frequently competed
for on the course in our own times. According to the Lanark tradition, it
was presented to the burgh in 1160 by King William. the Lion, but the story
is palpably absurd. The bell does not seem older than the early part of the
seventeenth century. It is of the usual form, four inches high under the
ring handle, and four inches across the circular mouth, which is closed with
a dome-shaped silver plate, having a cross- shaped opening in the centre,
terminating in quatrefoils. It bears engraved on the front the Lanark arms,
and also the monogram, " R. D.," which probably denotes that it was the work
of Robert Denneistoun or Danielstoun, who became a freeman of the Edinburgh
Goldsmiths' Incorporation on 23rd April, 1597, and was Deacon of his craft
from 16oS to 16io. Attached to the bell by silver chains are twenty-two
small silver tablets, bearing the names of various winners—the weight of the
bells and tablets being 30 oz. 2 dwt. The oldest tablet is inscribed thus—

Vin + Be me + Sir Iohne +HamiltonOf + Trabro
vn + 1628

The others are quite modern, dating between 1852 and
1$88. In the year 1661 the bell went amissing, and was not recovered till
1852, when it was found in the repositories of the Lanark Town Council. It
was exhibited in the "Sports and Arts Exhibition" of the Grosvenor Gallery,
London, in 1890, being then held by Mr. A. H. Laidlay, Edinburgh, the last
winner with his horse Horton. An engraving and descriptions of the bell
appeared in the Field of 22nd and 29th March, 1890.

The following Obligation, of date 12th April, 1631,
entered in the Town Council books of Stirling, shows that the sport was kept
up there, and that the prizes were as yet unchanged

In presence of the Provost and Bailie;, compearcd
peasonally Mr. Thomas Rollok, younger, burgess of the said burgh of
Stirling, and became acted and obliged of his sin confession, as cautioner
and surety for John Drum. mood of Garrick, that he shall exhibit, present,
and deliver to the Provost, or any one of the Bullies of the said burgh of
Stirling, within the said burgh, upon the first day of March next to come,
all and hailI these silver bells, extending to the number of aucht bells,
weighing in the haill aucht unce and nine drape weight, which he wan this
day, being Peace Tuesday, at the Bell Race, to be run again, the next Peace
Tuesday, betwixt Bannockburn and Stirling, and that under the pain of 50
merks money of this realm, to be paid to the Treasurer of this burgh, to the
town's use, in case of failure.

The Palm Sunday race of 1633 at Perth was for a piece of
plate of the value of 40; and the cup of 1637 was won by Francis Story,
servant to Lord Fenton. The troublous days of the Covenant were now at hand.
But it does not appear that horse-racing was specially proscribed in
Scotland during the Covenanting era—although there could be very little
public pastime in a period of national confusion. Races seem to have been
run at Cupar Fife in April, 1642. That year a charge was lodged with the
criminal authorities by James Stewart of Ardvoirlich (afterwards the
assassin of Montrose's friend, Lord Kilpont) against Laurence Mercer, son of
Sit- Laurence Mercer of Meikleour, and other three students at St. Andrews,
accusing them of having murdered the complainer's son, Alexander Stewart, in
a tumult between two classes" of students. The matter was taken up, and
Laurence Mercer and the others s'crc summoned to appear before the Lords of
Privy Council oil 8th June, 1643. These parties attended; but the Stewarts
failed so to do and after further procedure, the Council acquitted Laurence
Mercer and his "condisciples" of the charge, as it was proved that young
Ardvoirlich died from natural causes, and not from the injuries received in
the fight among the students of St. Andrews, the said Alexander having
afterwards attended the Cupar Races in April following, in good health, and
there "bursted a poor man's horse" by riding it to death.

"Peebles to the Play!" Although the troubles of the
nation were thickening in 1647 and 1648, Peebles kept up its horse-races.
The prize was the Silver Bell described in the burgh books of those years.
On 20th April, 1647, William Jonkesone, younger, burgess of Peebles, became
cautioner "for John Stewart, servitor to my lord Earl of Traquair, who
having this day received the Silver Bell of Peebles, with two little bells
and eight pendicles thereat, that the said John shall re-deliver the same
great bell, with the said two little bells, and eight pendicles, together
with his ain addition, betwixt and the third day of May next, under the pain
of 200 merks Scots money." Next year, on 4th May, "compearecl personally ane
noble and potent. lord, George, Lord Ramsay, who having with ane gray stoned
young horse won the Silver Bell of Peebles by running thrice about the
stowpes (posts) of Whythauch, has received the said Bell, having appended
thereto three little bells and eight pendicles, all weighing one pound, two
ounces, and eleven drop weight of silver," finds caution that the same will
be returned on 4th May next year, "with his lordship's addition thereto."

After the Restoration there was a great revival of
Racing in Scotland. The Mercurius Caledonius, in March, 1661, advertised the
"Race of Haddington," which was to be run on 22nd May, for 'a most
magnificent cup" and also that "the Horse race at Lanark, institute by King
William above 600 years since, but obstructed these 23 years by the iniquity
of the times, is now restored by Sir John Wilkie of Fouldon, as being loathe
so ancient a foundation should perish, and for that effect he hath given
gratis a piece of plate of the accustomed value, with a silver bell and
saddle to the second and third horse : it is to be run the third Tuesday of
May." It is suggested in the Field that Sir John Wilkic's plate and bell
were probably the prizes described as siller tanker and bell," which were
run for in June, 1719. Previously, the Lanark Town Council, on 21st March,
that year, appointed "their race for the siller tanker to be run in the
usual place upon Thursday, the i4th of June next to come, and the
magistrates to be judges in the riding."

In 1661, Ilorscraccs were also held on the Sands of
Leith every Saturday ; and at Cupar Fife there was a Race meeting, the prize
being a silver cup of the value of £i3. Next year, in May, the Dumfries Town
Council offered a silver bell of four ounces, to be run for every second
Tuesday of May, by the work-horses of the burgh, "according to the ancient
custom ;" and if the prize was won by the same horse and rider for three
years consecutively, it was to become the property of the winner. Again, in
1664, the Council offered a silver cup of forty ounces, to be run for by
noblemen and gentlemen's horses. The Town Council of Stirling, in 1665,
1673, and 1674, offered a silver cup : the course being on the Bridgc-haugh,
and the time the month of May.

This was probably about the time when the far famed
Habbie Simson, Piper of Kilbarchan, blew his enlivening strains at
Race-meetings in the west country,—as commemorated by the facetious poet of
Beltrees in elegiac verse:

"---- At horse races many a day, Before the black,
the brown, the gray, He gart his pipe, when he did play,Baith skirl
and screed.Now all such pastime's quite away, Sin Habbie's dead!"

Some entries in a volume of accounts preserved among the
Aberdeen papers at Haddo house, show how the Earl of Aberdeen, who was
Chancellor of Scotland from 10th May, 1682, to 21st November, 1684,
patronized Leith Races:

1682, July 17. To my lord going to Leith to his race,
per Account, £S Ss. For weighing the men at Leith that rade, £1 Ss.To
the man that ran the night before the race, 18s.Item to the two grooms
drink money at winning the race at Leith, £8 8s. Item to the Edinburgh
Officers with the cup, £14Item to the Smith boy plaitt the running horse
feet, 14s.

Until the Revolution year, 1688, the race at Perth was
called "The Bell Race;" but thereafter, by authority of the Magistrates, it
was denominated "the race for a cup and other prizes."

At Dunfermline, as we learn from Dr. Henderson's Annals
of that town, the Town Council, on 16th July, 1702, "ordained the Treasurer
to put out a Saddle on town's account, to be ridden on morn after July
market, betwixt the Town-green and Buckieburn, back and fore; the input,
each horse, £1 10s.; the horse not to be above £5 sterling value; and
ordained the Treasurer also to buy a bonnet and a pair of stockings, to be
exposed for a Foot-race on same ground immediately after the Horse-race,
with ribbons to the bonnet." Again, on 4th August, 1707, the Council
"warrants the Treasurer to pay the Saddler, £6 for the saddle ridden at July
market last."

New attractions for the Race-meetings were provided at
Stirling. The Town Council, on April, 1706, "appoints intimation to be made
by tuck of drum that there is ain Goose Race to be ridden for by the maltmen
of this burgh, Uj)Ofl the Saturday immediately before Whitsunday next, a
little without the Burrows gate, which is to begin at nine o'clock in the
morning: as also ane Horse Race for anc new saddle and furniture, to the
value of £12. 14S., to be ridden for the said day at one o'clock in the
afternoon, betwixt the Burrows gate and William Shirray's in Cambusbarron,
back and fore, value of each horse to run not to exceed £6o: as also ane
Foot Race betwixt the Burrows gate and Whytchill, at three o'clock the same
day, for ane pair of stockings, new shoes, and blue bonnet." In the
following year there were additions to the programme. The Council, on 21st
April, 1707, "appoints ane Horse Race to be run at Stirling, upon the day of
May next for ane Silver Mug, to the value of , which is to bear in great
letters 'Stirling Prize:' as also ane Foot Race to be run for by Men only,
for ane pair of shoes, ane pair of stockings, ane pair of gloves, and ane
bonnet: as also recommends to the Guildry to order ane Race for ane large
Gold Ring, to be run for upon horseback with lances the foresaid day; and to
the Maltmen to appoint ane Goose Race the same day; and the Omnigatherum
(the Carters) to appoint another Race for ain load Saddle, ane pair of Sods
(a sort of saddle used by the lower classes, made of cloth stuffed), and ane
new sack full of coals, the same day: and appoints all the foresaid Races to
be put in the weekly Gazette for six weeks to come, to the effect the lieges
may be acquainted therewith." A minute of 21st July following, states the
Town's part of the expense of the Races as being £52. 0s. 6d.

The race meetings of 1714 and 1715 are said to have
given the Jacobite party in the south of Scotland opportunities for plotting
in the interest of the Chevalier de St. George. At the Lochmaben races the
plates bore political devices: and on one of these occasions, when the races
were over, a party of the Jacobite gentry went to the Cross of the burgh,
and drank the Pretender's health on bended knees! In 1720, a variety of
race-meetings at Scottish towns were advertised. Chambers, in his Domestic
Annals, enumerates—" race at Cupar in Fife; one at Galarig, near
Selkirk, for a piece of plate given by the burgh, of L12 value; a race at
Hamilton Moor for £10; a race on Lanark Moor for a plate of £12, given by
the burgh; a race on the sands of Leith for a gold cup of about a hundred
guineas value, and another for a plate of £50 value, given by the city of
Edinburgh ; finally, another race at Leith, for a silver punch-bowl and
ladle, Of £25 value, given by the captains of the Trained Bands of
Edinburgh."

The Town Council of Dunfermline, on 26th April, 1723,
"resolved to put out a Saddle for a race to be run on Wednesday next at two
o'clock afternoon: and commissioned the two Bailies, the Dean of Guild, and
Treasurer, to buy the Saddle, and draw out the Articles." Farther, on 30th
April, same year, "the Council, for encouraging of the Gardeners' Race, to
be kept up here, they agreed that the town shall next year contribute 30s.
sterling for buying and putting a plate for next year."

At Perth, on 9th September, 1734, the lowi] Council
agreed to give ten guineas towards making up 75 guineas, or three purses,
for the Horse-races "to be run here next week." On 1st July, 1737, the
Council agreed to give a silver plate of £15 value, or that Sum in money, to
the races; and on 27th August, 1738, they agreed to give a prize of £15 15s.
At sometime during the century, it was found convenient to transfer the
race-course to the North Inch; which, however, was then only half its
present dimensions, being bounded on the north by a wall called the White
Dyke, which the Town Council ordered to be built on 6th November, 1727, and
which ran across from Balhousie Castle to the bank of the Tay, dividing the
town's property from that of the Kinnouli family. This wall was erected as a
check to the encroach- merits of the Muirton tacksmen, who, when ploughing
their land, occasionally took a furrow or two from the Inch; and the expense
is traditionally (probably erroneously) said to have been defrayed out of
the fines imposed on the bakers and brewers of the burgh for fighting with
the weavers.

In a Tack, dated 1761, granted by the Town, of the grass
and pasturage of the North and South Inches, a clause appears to the effect
that "liberty is reserved for the Golf, Archers, and other pastimes, conform
to use and wont ; and liberty for the running Horse-races, and for airing
and sweating the said horses for three weeks before the week of the Race ;
and that the Races be no sooner in the year than September." In 1803, the
North Inch was enlarged to its existing size under an excambion with the
Earl of Kinnoull but, previous to that bargain, the race-course was nearly
the same as it is at this day, the Earl permitting it to go through his
grounds by tem- porary openings being made in the boundary wall.

Eventually the annual Races on the Sands of Leith
lengthened out until they lasted a week in July or August, being run daily
during the recess of the tide. The patrons were the Magistrates of
Edinburgh, who marched in procession to the scene every day, attended by the
Town Guard; and the inhabitants of the capital and its seaport kept high
holiday throughout the week, affording ample scope for the manners-painting
muse of Robert Fergusson, who celebrates "Leith Races" in one of the most
characteristic and mirth-provoking of his effusions.

A memorable race was run in January, 1769. Two country
gentlemen, Mr. Maxwell of Dalswinton and Mr. Blair of Dunrod laid a wager of
£200 sterling which of them should ride soonest from Dumfries to
Kirkcudbright, a distance of about 27 miles. They started; but Mr. Blair
became ill on the road, seven miles short of Kirkcudbright, the goal, and
yielded the race, giving a Bill for the amount Of the wager. He died before
the Bill became due. His heir refused payment, and the winner took the
matter into the Court of Session. The case was fully argued and on 16th
December, 1774, the Court gave final judgment, finding that under the Act of
James VI. in 1621, cap. 21, all money won at Cards and Dice, or in wagers at
horse-races, above 100 merks Scots, belonged to the poor of the parish.

A year or two after this date—namely in August, 1777
—the Caledonian hunt was instituted at Hamilton House, the original members
being twelve in number ; and its turf-meetings lasted a whole week. About
1784, the Perthshire Hunt was established by the county, gentry, and proved
a success. The races on the North Inch, under its auspices, took place in
October, also continuing for a week, with ordinaries and balls daily. The
palmy days of the Perth Turf saw it as numerously and influentially
frequented as any other in Scotland : and when the Caledonian Hunt came
thither, according to rotation, the assemblies, it is stated, were prolonged
for a fortnight,— the Fair City then becoming the centre of attraction as a
resort of fashion.

With the close of the eighteenth century, our discursive
task must end, as we are persuaded that the foregoing details really exhaust
most of what the general reader may be supposed to reckon curious and
interesting in the history of the Scottish Turf. And we will conclude with
the judicious remark of a popular sporting writer ("The Druid," in his Post
and Paddock) that while believing that the Turf would sicken and droop
without betting, as completely as commerce and business without speculation,
we cannot but deeply deplore that men with ample means will not consider
such a noble sport quite amusement enough, without the extra stimulant of
'the jingle of the guinea.'"

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